Distanced Hearts
by goldanima
Summary: AU, Squall, Selphie, Irvine, Zell and Quistis are part of a resistance group known as The Forest Owls, fighting against the oppressive Galbadian Government. What will happen when they find a mysterious girl? Full summary inside
1. Chapter One

Summary- AU, Squall, Selphie, Irvine, Zell and Quistis are part of a resistance group known as The Forest Owls, fighting against the oppressive Galbadian Government. On a high-risk mission to steal Ragnarok, an experimental, high-tech fighter craft developed by Galbadian scientists, Squall and the gang find a girl on board that will drag them into a situation far beyond anything they thought they were a part of.

* * *

Chapter One

The dried out earth crunched as a lone figure with a bag slung over their shoulder walked toward a large metal fence.

"Remember Squall, this is a _covert_ operation, so no charging in funs blazing, alright?" the oh-so-familiar harsh-toned voice of a certain blonde female broke out into Squall's earpiece.

"Whatever," came the reply.

Pulling out a pair of wire cutters from the duffel bag, he set to work making an entrance for himself out of the steel perimeter. Once he was finished, he tapped on his earpiece once, and said;

"Irvine, I need you to take out all of the guard towers you can see, it'll make it easier for me."

"Can do Boss!"

Squall's trained ears picked up the barely audible sound of 5 silenced rounds hitting 5 Galbadian soldiers, and their consequent slumps onto the wooden floor of the guard towers. With one out of many problems dealt with, Squall looked around for a possible path to his target, the Ragnarok, a high-tech fighter craft that if deployed could mean the end of the rebellion. Squall's plan was quite simple in context, steal the Ragnarok. If that wasn't possible, plant lots of C4 near its fuel tanks and blow it up. Simple plan it was, until they saw how heavily guarded it was.

Squall managed to see one route. He'd have to kill maybe 5 or 10 guards at most, and do it fast. Pulling out a dagger, deciding using his gunblade would be too cumbersome for the task, he started running towards the first guard. Covering his mouth so he couldn't scream for help, Squall drew the blade quickly across the guard's throat. Throwing the body to the ground he headed towards the second guard and disposed of him, too.

That's where it all started to go wrong.

The 3rd guard Squall was supposed to kill on his route saw him standing over his comrade's dead body. That same guard was also standing next to an alarm, which, unsurprisingly he pressed. Cursing under his breath, Squall sheathed his dagger and drew out his own customised gunblade, The Lionheart. Running toward the guard, Squall slashed him across the torso, blood spurting out of the fresh wound. After smashing the alarm and shutting it up for good, Squall ran towards the two guards guarding the entrance into the craft.

At least, last time Squall checked, it was two.

At least 10 guards had amassed in front of the ramp, all of their weapons pointed towards Squall. Readying his weapon, he was about to strike when rapid burst of about 10 or 12 shots struck the Galbadian soldiers. Tapping his earpiece again, Squall spoke to the "Lone Gunman"

"Kinneas, you know I could've handled them on my own"

"Yeah well, _Leonhart_," Irvine replied, using his commander's surname just as he had done his "I'm freezing my ass off here waiting for to get that damned ship and I'm pretty sure the others are getting mighty nervous, 'specially since _you_ let the alarm go off."

Squall merely grunted, then shut his earpiece off. He needed to get this thing moving in about 3 minutes otherwise he'd be up to his neck in Galbadians.

Walking on board, he headed straight to what he had gathered through sketchy info from Watts ("I had to pay 10,000 Gil for the info sir!" Squall remembered the energetic, if not somewhat annoying spy for their resistance movement had said) was the bridge. Luckily, the bandanna-clad spy had pulled through, and Squall found himself on the bridge with the cockpit at the front. Sitting in the pilot seat, he began entering the access codes to unlock the clamps holding the Ragnarok to the ground and get the engines started. Squall made a mental note to repay Watts somehow, as he felt the ship shudder and then rise very quickly into the air. Grabbing hold of the controls, Squall began flying the ship out of the area. Tapping his earpiece he relayed his orders to the rest of the team.

"Mission successful, pull out and meet me at the rendezvous near Timber by 1900 hours, got it?"

After 4 'understood's from the team, Squall headed to the deepest part of Timber forest, hoping the trees might provide visual cover from the Galbadians. At 1859 hours, a Galbadian scouting vehicle parked by the craft, and out stepped Quistis, the "Big Sister" of the group, as well as being the most logical of the team; then Zell, the enigmatic, hot dog-loving blonde haired martial artist from Balamb with a distinctive tattoo going down the left side of his face. He tended to have a bit of short temper, and wasn't exactly sharpest knife in the drawer. He was good with electronics and machines though; next was Selphie, the petite brunette from the town of Dollet in Northern Galbadia. She was the one that was always in high spirits even when things were down. She may not have looked it, but she was deadly with the shinobou, and was one of the first people to join The Forest Owls in the fight against Galbadia; and finally stepped out Irvine, a carefree, ladies' man, was the sniper of the group, he had a loose tongue and great charm. To fit in with the whole "Lone Gunman" act, his dress style was similar to that of a cowboy in old western films.

Walking on board, they found Squall waiting for them.

"We need to clear out the ship, make sure we don't have any stowaways. Zell, I need you to go to the bridge and use the sensors to tell us where there are, if any people left on board. I also need you to check to see if the Galbadians have put a tracking device on here, if they have, disable it. Understood?" Zell gave a mini-salute and ran to the bridge.

"Tilmitt, you're with me, Quistis, you go with Kinneas. I'll take the 3rd and 4th floors, you two take 1st and 2nd. Move out."

AN-I decided to revamp the interior a bit, so it probably won't be like the ship in the actual game. But hey, it's AU, so it can be different :p

Quistis and Irvine saluted and walked to the stairs which would lead them to the lower floors. Just as Squall and Selphie were about to set off, Zell interrupted them;

"Nothing's appearing on either of your floors, Squall."

"I'd still like to check around though. You know, explore the ship, you never know what we could find here." Selphie said. Squall nodded in agreement

"She's got a point Zell, Go and help Quistis and Irvine instead, we'll be fine."

"OK Commander, good luck." Squall winced mentally at the use of his "title" before heading off with Selphie.

Squall and Selphie then began the repetitive task of opening each door cautiously, then checking quickly inside if there was anything of interest. They went through the 3rd floor with no incidents, although Squall decided they split up and check two rooms at once to speed things up. They had found nothing until Selphie called to Squall.

"Squall! I found someone! I think they need help!" Squall rushed over to the room and froze suddenly when he looked at what Selphie was looking at:

A young woman was in chains and hanging off of the wall. She had a bag over her head and Squall could only discern her gender due to the style of her torn and blood-stained clothes. Squall quickly drew his blade and cut her free from her chains. The woman slumped to the floor, and Squall, kneeled beside her, ripped the bag off of her head and checked her pulse and breathing.

"She's still alive, but she has a low pulse and needs medical attention now, I'll do what I can with magic" Squall closed his eyes, held his hand out in front of him over the girl and concentrated on the rarest curative magic junctioned within his mind

"Curaga"

White light seeped out of his hand and spread around the body of the woman, healing most of the visible cuts on her body, but some larger ones remained.

"I'll carry her to the bridge; she can rest and recover there."

Selphie nodded

"I'll meet up with the others after I've finished exploring"

Squall nodded, and then picked her up. It was then he noticed a strange-looking device attached to her wrist. Not being able to figure out its purpose, he shrugged and carried on carrying the woman to the bridge. He could ask Zell later what it is.

* * *

"What did you guys find?" Squall, sat across from the mystery girl, asked Quistis and Irvine

"We found a hanger, 1 jet, several bikes, a few crates, nothing out of the ordinary, everything else was pretty much empty." Squall nodded. After they left his presence, he motioned for Zell to join him, pointing to the strange girl's wrist.

"Any idea what it is Zell?" Squall asked. Zell examined the device on her wrist for several moments.

"From the looks of it, it's emitting some kind of field-I'm guessing that's what hid her from the sensor scan. Oh by the way, I didn't find any kind of tracking device on the ship."

Squall nodded. "Good."

Knowing he wouldn't get any more of a response from him, Zell left him alone. It was then that Squall finally got a good look at the young woman still asleep in a chair. She had black hair which went just below her neck; yet it was matted with old, dried blood at the roots, and a round-ish face, numerous tiny red marks, the remnants of her previous injuries. She had somewhat pale skin. Squall couldn't see her eyes for the moment.

_She'd look pretty if it weren't for all those cuts. Probably why the Galbadians took her prisoner. Sick bastards._ Squall thought.

She was wearing a blue jacket that went down to her ankles at the back, and had a black top underneath it. She also had short black shorts that stopped a little after the halfway line of her thigh, as well as black boots.

"One more thing Zell"

"Yes?"

"Remove that bracelet on her arm; we don't know exactly what its doing" Zell nodded, and knelt down beside the woman to take it off, but couldn't

"Um, Squall?"

Squall grunted; his form of saying "what?"

"I can't get it off"

Squall knelt down beside Zell and attempted to take it off himself. He wasn't lying; he couldn't pull it off the woman's wrist. Sighing, he stood back up.

"Just leave it for now, we'll ask Kadowaki about it when we get back."

Quistis ran up to Squall.

"We've got incoming!"

Squall ran to the radar monitor. Sure enough, a lot of red blips were heading for the large green one. Cursing mentally, he quickly formulated a basic plan to get them out of here alive.

"Dincht, you're on navigation, Kinneas and Quistis, weapons, Tilmitt, you're co-pilot, go!" Squall quickly sat the girl up in a chair and strapped her in, before running back into the main pilot's seat.

Ragnarok quickly rose into the air and sped off over the countryside, Galbadian fighters AN: They're just like regular fighter jets, thought I should include them otherwise the Galbadians wouldn't have anything to stop Squall and co. with would they? following behind. Once they were close enough, Quistis let loose a volley from the aft machine gun, destroying two jets that careered off into the dense forest

"They have a lock on us!" Irvine yelled

"Releasing counter-measures!" Quistis exclaimed. Ragnarok veered off to the left, shooting out some kind of firework that drew the missile toward it. The dog fight was now taking place over the ocean.

"They've got another lock!"

"Counter-measures are disabled!"

"Strap yourselves in and hold on tight!" Squall ordered. Grabbing the control stick, I can't remember what it's called he set the Ragnarok into a rough spin before turning sharply to the right, the missile still following closely behind. Jerking up the stick, the Ragnarok rose sharply before Squall shut off the main engines, turning on all the manoeuvring thrusters on the underside of the ship at the back, spinning the Ragnarok a full 180°. Back down toward the shimmering blue water below. Slamming the ship into full throttle, it began hurtling toward the sea at tremendous speed.

"SQUALL! What are you doing?" Selphie yelled at him. He didn't answer. Instead, he just waited until the Ragnarok was about to hit the water, before repeating his trick form before, only this time with the thrusters on the top of the Ragnarok, and then speeding away.

The missile didn't stand a chance of following, and thusly crashed into the sea before detonating. Quistis dispatched of the last of the fighters. Sighing in relief, she slumped in her chair.

"We've lost them. For now." Squall noticed land was encroaching on the horizon.

"Where are we Zell?"

"We're approaching Esthar." Squall nodded

"Good, I think I have an idea…" He half-said to himself, looking over at the mysterious young woman.

* * *

So, what do you guys think? I keep thinking I've written the whole action sequences horribly wrong, but that's up to you :P Read and review, but no flames please :)

For those of you that have read my harry potter fic, "Darkened Skies Above" and are wondering when I'm next gonna update, it's gonna be a while, huuuuge writer's block on that one I'm afraid.


	2. Chapter Two

A.N: I apologize if you found chapter one a little hard to read, but there were some problems when I uploaded it, I'll try and fix it in a while. Anyways, time for chapter 2 to commence!

Also, I forgot to add a disclaimer, so here goes:

I do not own any material that belongs to Square-Enix and any other companies that may be associated with materials in my story, including characters, places, items mentioned within this story. I do however, own the plot and any original characters that appear in the story

Chapter Two

Squall briskly walked over to the girl, and picked her up, before walking toward the door.

"Um…Squall? What are you doing?" Irvine asked.

"You'll see. Dincht, tell me when we near Odine's lab. Tilmitt, when I say, start heading back to Garden, and tell Cid what the situation is, I'll send you a long-distance communication when I'm ready to be picked up. Got it?"

Everyone nodded, despite having barely understood what their leader was doing.

"Good, I'll start preparing"

* * *

In the Hangar, Squall walked over to the nearest bike. He laid the girl on the floor, her head resting against the bike, whilst he looked the bike over. 

The girl's eyes suddenly opened. She bolted upright, before glaring at Squall.

"Who are you! Are you one of those Galbadian guys?" Her expression changed into one of fear "are you…going to…hurt me again?"

Squall looked at her; a flash of sympathy crossed his face for a second.

"No, now get on." He motioned at the bike. The girl didn't move.

"…………Please get on?" Still no movement.

Squall sighed heavily, before moving with refined precision and haste, and grabbing the girl, before walking back to the bike.

"Hey! Let go of me! You big……big…MEANIE!"

Squall ignored her protests as he placed her on the bike, before quickly getting on himself, and starting the bike.

"Hold on, I'm taking you someplace safe, trust me"

He stared at her with his cold blue eyes, into her chocolate brown. Squall lost himself for a few moments, just staring into her eyes, until he heard her reply, snapping him back to reality;

"Okay." He felt her slender arms wrap around his waist. Tapping his earpiece, he spoke to Quistis.

"Open the hangar doors." A few seconds later he heard the mechanisms begin to move as the thick hangar door opened, exposing the land rushing past. Revving the bike, he set off toward the edge, gaining speed every second…

Until the bike lost contact with the cold metal of the hangar, spinning on nothing but air for several seconds, before hitting the dirt with a loud thud. Squall mentally thanked Hyne for the bike having some kind of suspension system. He skid the bike to a halt to check his bearings. Seeing the outline of Odine's lab on the horizon, basked in the evening sunlight, he turned the bike toward it and sped off.

A few minutes later, Squall heard the distinct sound of a jet engine. Looking back, he saw 3 Galbadian fighters quickly gaining on their position. With only barren dusty plains in every direction, there was nowhere to hide. They would be mowed down by a quick burst of machine gun fire.

Or at least that's what Squall-and the Galbadian pilots for that matter-thought.

* * *

Squall could feel a small amount of heat on his back. Turning round to check what it was, he was almost blinded by a bright white light. Because of this momentary distraction, Squall lost control of the bike, which, consequently, toppled over. Squall hit the ground with a hard thud. Ignoring the pain, he looked around for the girl. He couldn't see her, just the bright light hovering near the crashed bike. All of a sudden, Squall could hear a soft, almost angelic voice sing some kind of melody, so loud it blocked out the noise of the jet engines. Just as the jets were close enough to fire a quick burst, the bright light shot up toward the planes, faster than Squall had ever seen anything move. The light shot through all three jets within seconds of each other; a few seconds later, they exploded in a burst of bright red and orange. 

As the wreckage fell to the ground, Squall saw the light return to its original position next to the bike, shimmering a few seconds before it disappeared, leaving behind the girl, lying on the ground, unconscious.

"_What the hell was that? I think I'm beginning to see why the Galbadians want her so much; that is of course if that was her, maybe I'm already dead and that was just a dream."_ Squall's internal monologue ended. Trying to get up, he felt a sharp pain in his wrist. _"Guess it's been sprained from the fall. This means that definitely wasn't an illusion"_. Grabbing his last potion, he drank half of it before forcing himself up and walking to the girl's unconscious form. Kneeling down beside her, he turned her over so that she was lying on her back, her head cradled in one of his arms. The girl came to, slowly opening her eyes.

"What…what happened?"

"You don't remember?"

"No…one moment I was on the bike with some jets chasing us, the next thing I know is me waking up in front of you."

"_Best not tell her…for now, she could freak, and judging from what I've seen of her so far, that's not good"_ his mind reasoned.

"Oh, well, my ship destroyed the jets. We're safe for now. Let's go before more come"

The girl nodded.

"My name's Rinoa by the way." She smiled at Squall

"Huh?"

"We never properly introduced ourselves, so what's your name?"

"Squall." He grunted in reply, before heading over to the bike and lifting it back upright, revving the engine and waiting for Rinoa to get on, before speeding off toward the lab.

Skidding to a halt outside the entrance, Squall got off, and drew his gunblade, holding it behind him as he walked towards the door, Rinoa following about a metre and a half behind. Stopping at the intercom, he pressed the button to speak.

"Odine! You there? I got a favour to ask!" Squall half-yelled into the microphone. The eccentric but brilliant scientist was often tinkering away at something or other, and rarely heard if anyone was trying to visit him.

Thankfully, this time, he was there.

"Squall? Iz zat you? Vat do you vant? If eetz about zat engine I gave you for your car, I zvear eet _looked_ like an Eztharian 500, not one of vose crappy Trabian 250 modelz."

"I'm not here about….hey wait; YOU gave me a Trabian 250 for my car? No wonder it blew up…You nearly killed me!" Squall yelled; pointing his gunblade at the small camera attached to the intercom. On the other side of the intercom, the diminutive scientist cowered.

"I'll deal with you about that later, but for now, I need your help with something."

He sheathed his gunblade, and motioned Rinoa forward.

"This girl has a bracelet on her that we couldn't get off; which is sending out some kind of signal, which could possibly be a homing signal which means we're gonna get a ton of G-Army soldiers on our asses unless you can find a way to either get it off of her or disable it, preferably both, ok?"

"Alright! Alright! Come inside, I'll take a look."

Squall walked inside, Rinoa following closely behind.

* * *

Another Chapter finished! Sorry it's shorter, but I felt this was a good place to end it. I'm gonna post a chapter up soon telling the whole backstory that should help make things clearer. Auf Wiedersehen for now. 

P.S. I'm also aware I horribly over-exaggerated Odine's accent, but i did it for comic relief...sorta.

P.S.S. I also think my story is similar to the film _Serenity_, which is excellent, by the way. But i assure you i thought of this before i saw or even heard of the film.


	3. Chapter 3

A.N.: chapter 4 will actually be the flashback chapter, explaining the history of what happened and how the G-Army rose to power. Anyways, Onward to Chapter 3!

Oh yeah, I just want to thank everyone that has reviewed so far, especially Lady-Rinoa14 and Hyvlo, as you two are the only one who have reviewed more than once :D

I also want to apologize for the lateness of this chapter being put up, I've just been real busy lately with stuff that you'll most likely be bored by :P

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any material that belongs to Square-Enix and any other companies that may be associated with materials in my story, including characters, places, and items mentioned within this story. I do, however, own the plot and any _original_ characters/places/items that appear in the story

* * *

Chapter 3

Rinoa eyed the doctor suspiciously as he examined her wrist under a lamp. She looked around the room for Squall, but couldn't find him. Fear started to slowly set in, though she didn't show it. That fear dissipated when she saw him enter, finishing off a makeshift bandage for his wrist.

"Ah Squall, there you are, I juzt finished examining it."

"And?"

"Eetz definitely removable." Both Squall and Rinoa sighed in relief at this.

"How long will it take you?"

"Not long, ten minutez perhapz, I juzt have to bypazz a few of eetz eenternal zeeztemz (Systems) to unlock eet." Squall nodded. The small man lowered his voice so that only Squall could hear.

"I have zomething to tell you, but not in front of zee girl." Squall walked out of the room with Dr.Odine

"What is it?" Squall inquired

"Eetz alzo giving off a signal, like you thought, but not juzt a homing signal, but zeveral otherz, many of which use zee same wavelength of my Sorceress suppressing devicez."

"You're saying that she's a _sorceress_? I thought the last one alive was killed in the last war 18 years ago"

"Eetz not impossible."

"Take it off of her; if she was a sorceress like Adel was, she would've had those eyes…I'll inform Cid of the situation anyway when I get back." Odine nodded, and went back in to get the bracelet off.

10 minutes later, Rinoa was rubbing her wrist where the bracelet had been, the itching was driving her mad. Squall was in the lab's garage, picking a sleek sports car and loading the trunk with equipment from Odine. After the Doctor handed her a box which held the said bracelet and had told her she could go, she walked, rather quickly, to where Squall was.

"We ready to go?" She asked

"Almost, just got to send a message to the others," she nodded, and held out the box to Squall.

"It's got the bracelet in it. The doctor said he'd turned it off, so the G-Army shouldn't be able to find us,"

"Good. Ok, the message is sent, we can go." Rinoa jumped in the passenger seat, whilst Squall calmly walked up to the door and sat down in the driver's seat.

The garage door creaked open slowly, allowing the light from the sunset on the horizon seep through slowly. As Squall eased the car out of the garage, the intercom by the door activated.

"Good luck Squall,"

"Thanks for the help Odine, see you around," and with that, Squall sped off.

"Where are we headed?" Rinoa asked. A pause from Squall.

"First, we get back on the ship, then back to garden."

"Garden? As in, one of the _SeeD Gardens_? But I thought…"

"That's what everyone thinks, even the G-Army; it's the main reason why we've been so successful in evading capture."

"But where is it? There's just 3 huge craters where they were, there's no way it can be there!"

Squall smirked for a nanosecond, before replacing it with his usual serious composure.

"You'll see." Seeing the ocean was in view, he tapped his earpiece.

"You guys there?"

"Yeah, we're gonna land a click away from you." Came Zell's reply.

Squall looked up as he saw the red dragon-shaped craft soar over them and land not too far away. Turning the car round to face the ship, he raced towards it.

Parking the car in the nearest empty space he could find in the hangar, he got his equipment out from the back of the car and tapped his earpiece again.

"Tilmitt, head back to Garden. Quistis, tell Cid we're coming and need a clear space to land this thing, maybe the Quad?" both women replied with an understood, and Squall heard the engines come to life again and the slight shudder as it lifted off the ground and flew away from Esthar.

"Guys, this is Rinoa, she's gonna give us a brief of what she knows when we get back to Garden, so no bothering her, alright?" The 4 people nodded and went back to their workstations apart from Irvine and Zell, whilst Rinoa sat in one of the spare chairs, and Squall took up co-pilot.

Irvine nudged Zell to get his attention and whispered to him.

"Squall actually voicing concern for someone? I think he likes her," Zell gave him a look of mock disgust

"_Squall actually like-liking her?_ For one thing, he's never had a romantic encounter in his life, and second of all, he'll be too stubborn on upholding that "lone wolf" thing to actually tell her he likes her"

"Ha-ha, you're one to talk Zell. I know you've been eyeing up that girl in the library. Ya'know, the one with the pigtails." Zell's face reddened.

"Yeah…well…shut up! I've seen the way you look at Selphie. This time, it was Irvine's face to change colour.

"Alright then Zell, hows about this: You ask that library girl to go to the committee party with you, and I'll ask Selphie, deal?" Zell held out his hand.

"Deal."

* * *

About 2 hours later, Zell announced

"Garden should be coming up in front of us in about a minute Squall."

As soon as Rinoa heard this, she ran forward to get a better look out of the bridge's window. She'd never seen a picture of any of the gardens, so she was shocked when she saw the strange, light blue seashell-shaped building floating about 1 kilometre off of the ocean floor, with a ring that was intricately designed, spinning around at the bottom of it.

"Um, which garden is this? I was told that there were 3…before they were destroyed" She asked Squall.

"Balamb" Squall replied monotonously. He pressed a button for the ship's communication channel.

"Cid, it's Squall. Have you got us a landing space?"

"Yes, we've cleared a spot for you in the Quad, it's only temporary, we're altering the garage into a landing pad as we speak; you're cleared to land."

"Roger that, coming in to land now."

As the ship landed, several hundred people came rushing out toward the ship.

"Who are all these people?" Rinoa asked.

"These are the Forest Owls, the new name for the remnants of SeeD, after we were nearly wiped out by the G-Army." Quistis answered, with a slightly sombre tone to her voice. Rinoa nodded.

AN: if you're wondering why there is a huge crowd when the Ragnarok lands, this is because when Squall ordered the others back to Garden to fill Cid in on what happened, they didn't land before, they just talked via a com-link and set back off to Esthar.

"Well, we should head outside, they look like they're gonna charge on in a minute" Irvine joked, before walking off the bridge and toward the hangar to open the doors and meet everyone. Everyone else left after him, until only Squall and Rinoa were left. Squall hadn't moved from his position in the co-pilot's chair. Rinoa could hear a lot of cheers as she walked over to Squall.

"What's the matter? Aren't you coming?" Rinoa asked him.

He grunted, before issuing a short response;

"I'm not a people person."

"So…what? You just gonna sit here until you're ordered out?"

"That's the plan." A pregnant pause.

"You should go though, if you leave when I do, they'll get the wrong idea, if you know what I mean." Rinoa's face reddened slightly as she realized what he meant.

"Oh! Right…I'll just…go then…" She rather hurriedly left the bridge.

As she walked out from the hangar, the cheering quietened, and many people stared at her, some with suspicion, others with curiosity, but all unsure as to who she was and how had she come to be on the ship? She looked around nervously until she heard Zell yell:

"It's cool guys, she's with us! No need to get all worked up!" after that, the crowd stopped staring at her, and started talking amongst themselves; a lot of them were also trying to talk with Quistis, Selphie, Zell and Irvine who were surrounded.

10 minutes later, Squall saw that Cid was walking out toward the Quad, flanked by Nida and someone dressed in a Faculty uniform. Grabbing his Gunblade, he calmly walked out, just as he heard Cid yell:

"May I have your attention please?"

Of course, no-one had heard him apart from Squall. Sighing heavily, he raised his gunblade into the air, and squeezed the trigger on the handle 3 times. This, unsurprisingly, got everyone's attention. Squall then nodded at Cid before walking over to where the others were.

"Thank you Squall. Now, obviously, the mission was a success, and there will be time for you to celebrate tomorrow night at the committee party. But for now, let them rest and attend the debriefing. That is all." Cid then left, the crowd following suit; still chatting loudly, until only Squall and the others were left. Squall turned to face them.

"I know you guys already gave Cid a rough outline of what happened, but we've still got an hour 'til official debrief, as usual. You've got 30 minutes free time, but after that, I want Kadowaki checking up on you. Dismissed." Zell, Selphie, Quistis and Irvine nodded, and set off in their own directions. Rinoa looked at Squall.

"What about me?" She asked him.

"I'm taking you to the infirmary, just for a check-up,"

"Why not when the others go?" Squall froze, and didn't answer. Instead, he just walked off. Rinoa, not wanting to get lost in this place, followed him.

Dr. Kadowaki looked up from her desk when she heard the main doors slide open. Seeing who it was, she smiled at Squall.

"Hello Squall. I assume from the cheering outside that the mission was a success?"

Squall nodded. Kadowaki looked at Rinoa with a slightly puzzled look.

"And who is this?"

"This is Rinoa. We found her on board Ragnarok, she was badly injured. I cast Curaga on her, which seemed to heal most of the damage, but I need you to do a check-up on her, just in case." The doctor nodded, before she noticed his wrist

"And what happened to you?" she inquired in a stern tone.

"Nothing. A sprained wrist. I bandaged it up." Dr. Kadowaki snorted.

"Like hell you did. I think you need to take that first aid course again, Commander."

Rinoa was giggling softly, covering her mouth with her hand. Squall sent her a traditional death-glare, before turning back to the stout doctor.

"My wrist is _fine_, just give me painkillers and a sling and leave me be. Besides, I asked you to check-up on Rinoa." He argued back, before heading over to the medicine cabinet and taking out a bottle of painkillers, and then began looking around for a sling. The doctor sighed in defeat; at least he'd have something to do whilst she did Rinoa's check-up.

20 minutes later, Rinoa walked up to Squall, who was leaning against the wall with a bored expression on his face. He noted she was wearing different clothes; a light blue sweater with a pair of jeans that looked a little too baggy to fit properly, and Squall could see a belt that had been pulled so tightly together that a large bit of it was sticking out from Rinoa's side. Squall himself didn't care, but he felt sure that the others would think she looked funny. He opened his mouth to state this, but Rinoa cut him off.

"Before you start; don't laugh, these were the only spare clothes left and I know I look a fool but…" This time, Squall cut her off.

"I wasn't going to laugh, I was gonna say that the others might though." A short pause. Squall checked his watch.

"We should go; the others will be coming here soon. Unless you want to be the subject of torment, I suggest you come with me now." He said nonchalantly, before heading out of the main door, Rinoa following behind him.

They walked along the corridors in silence, until Rinoa attempted conversation.

"So……where is everyone?"

"Classes"

"Oh." The hallways became quiet once again, Save for their footsteps. A little while later, when the two were nearing the Directory, she attempted to speak to Squall again.

"D'you think you can give me a tour? I don't want to get lost here."

"Whatever." He walked over to the directory, and pointed at the various signs.

"We're here, the sections clock-wise from here are Infirmary, Cafeteria, Quad-where we came from; Dorms, garage, Training Centre and Library"

AN: I think that's the order they go in, did it from memory having not played FF8 in a while. Let me know if I made a mistake!

"That's not what I'd call a tour," She smirked. Squall opened his mouth to retort, but was cut off by the intercom.

"_Squall Leonhart, please report to the headmaster's office along with the rest of your team."_

"We better get going," Squall stated bluntly, before walking up the steps to the elevator. He waited for Rinoa then pressed the button for third floor. Rinoa 's eyes widened as she saw a large metallic pillar in the middle of the room when the elevator doors opened.

"What's that?" She asked, pointing at the pillar.

"That leads up to the bridge of the Garden. It's what controls how it moves." He explained quickly before walking past the pillar and taking a seat at a large wooden table situated behind the pillar. Rinoa took a seat next to him. Cid was already sat at the end of the table, with a Faculty member standing next to him. Just as Squall and Rinoa had sat down, the elevator doors opened again, and Quistis, Irvine, Selphie and Zell walked over to the table and took their seats. Cid cleared his throat before speaking.

"Thank you all for coming so quickly. I would also like to congratulate you on acquiring the Ragnarok. This will be a great help to our cause. Now Squall, the debrief…"

Squall told Cid what happened, with some contributions from Quistis, Irvine, Selphie and Zell. When Squall got to the part where he was riding to Odine's, he left out the incident with the Galbadian planes, saying his wrist was sprained by the impact of when he jumped ship. Rinoa gave him a strange look for a few seconds when he was saying this, but decided not to say anything about it. When he had finished, Cid cleared his throat again and spoke.

"Thank you all. Now, there is just one more matter to discuss." He looked at Rinoa.

"You probably already knew this, but we have to ask you some questions." Rinoa nodded.

"Well, frankly the most obvious questions here are who are you, and how did you end up inside the most well-kept, until now that is, secret of the Galbadian Military?"

Rinoa sighed, before speaking.

"My actual name is Rinoa Caraway. But I gave myself a different name after I found out what he did to my mother…So could you please address me as Rinoa Heartily?

"You're General fucking _Caraway_'s daughter? Hyne…no wonder they came after us so bad. But they were trying to kill us, so why would he want his daughter killed?" Zell inquired.

"He doesn't think of me as his daughter any more. It's because of him I was on the ship. He never told me why…but he locked me up there, at that base, and there were all these scientists and…" She paused, "they took blood samples and ran me through these strange machines, and then they let the guards do what they wanted with me, they said something like "It may help her reach her full potential" but I had no idea what they were on about." Rinoa's eyes were starting to well up, but she would not cry in front of them.

"I think we understand Ms. Heartily. Thank you. You're free to stay here at the Garden for as long as you wish. I will-" Rinoa cut Cid off.

"You're fighting against the Galbadians right? My father? I want to help. I have-"

This time, Cid cut her off.

"Yes, yes, I was quite sure you were going to say that actually, but that is best left for discussion tomorrow. Please, just rest here. In fact, there's the Dance tonight, you're welcome to take part."

"Um… sure, I'll go."

"Selphie, would you mind sharing with Rinoa until we can give her accommodation?"

"Sure! Let's go Rinny!"

"_Hyne…she's barely known her five minutes and she's already given her a nickname"_ Squall thought to himself.

"Well, you are all dismissed. I'm sure I'll see you all later." Everyone nodded, and then departed from the room.

* * *

1 hour later…

Irvine was wandering around the garden, looking for Selphie. He was heading toward the quad, where he suspected the hyper brunette to be. He wasn't surprised when he saw her co-ordinating people moving stuff around in preparation for the dance later that night. He confidently strode up next to her.

"Hey Sephy!"

"Hey Irvy. What'cha doin here?"

"Well actually, it concerns you."

"Moi?"

"Yes, um…You wanna go to the dance with me?

"Sure! I'd love to. I'll meet you at 7?"

"Ok! Well, see ya then!" He walked away, waving goodbye at her as he left the quad.

Meanwhile, in the library…

"Hey um…Amy, right?" Zell asked the girl with the pigtails at the library desk.

"Yes? Have you come to check out a book? Oh wait you're the guy that's always in here, Zell right?"

"Uh, yeah, I wanna ask you something…"

"Yes?"

"Doyouwanttogotothedancewithme?

"What?"

"Do you want to go to the dance with me?"

Amy giggled a bit.

"Sure! You're cute. I'll see you at 7 then?"

"Yeah, Well, See you!" Zell ran out of the library, and then stopped in the corridor.

"HELL YES!" He yelled, jumping up in the air.

Meanwhile, at the Training Center…

Squall was just finishing off some grats when when he noticed someone watching him. A certain black-haired young woman.

"Yes?" he questioned her.

"I just wanted to ask you something."

"What?"

"What happened to the Gardens exactly? I mean I knew there was a missile attack but I don't much else, thanks to my father…"

"Well…"

Squall began to explain……

* * *

A/N: And that's the end of chapter 3! Please read and review! Sorry for the lateness again! 


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